dispatch_after - GCD in Swift?

Question

I\'ve gone through the iBook from Apple, and couldn\'t find any definition of it:

Can someone explain the structure of dispatch_after?

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Answer 1

This worked for me.

Swift 3:

let time1 = 8.23
let time2 = 3.42

// Delay 2 seconds

DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2.0) {
    print("Sum of times: \(time1 + time2)")
}

Objective-C:

CGFloat time1 = 3.49;
CGFloat time2 = 8.13;

// Delay 2 seconds

dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(2.0 * NSEC_PER_SEC)), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    CGFloat newTime = time1 + time2;
    NSLog(@"New time: %f", newTime);
});

Answer 2

For multiple functions use this. This is very helpful to use animations or Activity loader for static functions or any UI Update.

DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.9) {
            // Call your function 1
            DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.5) {
                // Call your function 2
            }
        }

For example - Use a animation before a tableView reloads. Or any other UI update after the animation.

*// Start your amination* 
self.startAnimation()
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.9) {
                *// The animation will execute depending on the delay time*
                self.stopAnimation()
                DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.5) {
                    *// Now update your view*
                     self.fetchData()
                     self.updateUI()
                }
            }

Answer 3

I always prefer to use extension instead of free functions.

Swift 4

public extension DispatchQueue {

  private class func delay(delay: TimeInterval, closure: @escaping () -> Void) {
    let when = DispatchTime.now() + delay
    DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: when, execute: closure)
  }

  class func performAction(after seconds: TimeInterval, callBack: @escaping (() -> Void) ) {
    DispatchQueue.delay(delay: seconds) {
      callBack()
    }
  }

}

Use as follow.

DispatchQueue.performAction(after: 0.3) {
  // Code Here
}

Answer 4

dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(10 * NSEC_PER_SEC)), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    // ...
});

The dispatch_after(_:_:_:) function takes three parameters:

a delay
a dispatch queue
a block or closure

The dispatch_after(_:_:_:) function invokes the block or closure on the dispatch queue that is passed to the function after a given delay. Note that the delay is created using the dispatch_time(_:_:) function. Remember this because we also use this function in Swift.

I recommend to go through the tutorial Raywenderlich Dispatch tutorial

Answer 5

To execute a funtion or code after a delay use the next method

DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 'secondsOfDelay') {
        your code here...
    }

Example - In this example the funtion getShowMovies will be executed after 1 second

DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 1) {
        self.getShowMovies()
    }

Answer 6

I use dispatch_after so often that I wrote a top-level utility function to make the syntax simpler:

func delay(delay:Double, closure:()->()) {
    dispatch_after(
        dispatch_time(
            DISPATCH_TIME_NOW,
            Int64(delay * Double(NSEC_PER_SEC))
        ),
        dispatch_get_main_queue(), closure)
}

And now you can talk like this:

delay(0.4) {
    // do stuff
}

Wow, a language where you can improve the language. What could be better?

---

Update for Swift 3, Xcode 8 Seed 6

Seems almost not worth bothering with, now that they've improved the calling syntax:

func delay(_ delay:Double, closure:@escaping ()->()) {
    let when = DispatchTime.now() + delay
    DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: when, execute: closure)
}